Vanden Plas

Vanden Plas Hello members I am having an issue with my parking sensors. When I put the car in drive or reverse the parking sensor turn off light in the roof console comes on and the sensors don't seem to work as the car speeds up the light goes out. I am sure that after I went through an automatic car wash the other day that started it working but it soon went back to the same as it was do you think this could be a faulty sensor or the parking sensor control unit but it is strange the car wash is a temporary fix. I usually go to the hand car wash but sometimes the bloke with the jet washer gets carried away I wonder if that might have damaged a sensor is there a way to test them. Regards Richard

Searching the internet for more information on the handbrake found this on a site called fix ya.com does this sound right. My S type parkbrake motor is starting to make funny noises and the "Parkbrake Fault" message appears. I need a new motor about £90 cost + labour. This can't be done for another two weeks so to stop it failing and leaving my brakes on you can do the following to ensure it does not come on when leaving the car. Put the automatic gearbox in "parking" and push the parkbrake button down (i.e. to ensure it does not come on). Keep it pushed down and take the ingnition keys out of the it will not start the parkbrake motor. Whe you next get in the car, you will not see the "Park" light come on meaning the parkbrake is not on. Only do this if the car is on the flat to be safe.

I am not sure but think if you put the car in park and put your foot on the brake and disengage the hand brake as you turn off and remove the key the parking brake does not come on. I turn the ignition back on and the handbrake is not on but I am not sure if it does engage if you then get out of the car and lock the doors using the door lock fob. If this is possible i would rather do this than disconnect the battery as I am sure this would cause more problems knowing how easy it is to upset the electronics on some Jaguars. Perhaps another member could try this and let me know thier results. All the best.

Thanks for the replies but like you said I think the handbrake is applied automatically when you select park and remove the key because when you turn the ignition switch back on the handbrake is already on engaged. What I would like to know is there a way to leave the gearbox in park and remove the keys lock and leave the car with the electronic handbrake not engaged on is this possible does anybody know?

I have now twice left my S Type parked under cover while I have been away and on both occasions when I return the car seems to have gone into a sleep mode and the door open remote does nothing but as soon as I use the key to unlock it everything wakes up and works fine is this normal for the S Type. The only problem I have is that the rear brake pads seem to stick to the rotors and the handbrake does not want to release as it should on the first time I drove forward and reverse a little and there was a small bang and the brakes released and worked as normal after that. But on the second time the brakes were locked on a little more but did again release after moving the car forwards and backwards until the pads released from the rotors again. This time I did get the warning from the dashboard warning handbrake fault but this went away after the brakes released. Does any member know if it is possible to park the car for an extended period and not deploy the electronic hand brake I am sure if this is possible it would prevent the problem of the pads locking themselves to the rotors. Any help or advice on this matter will be gratefully received.

Hi Stan, Your car sounds like it is doing all the same things as mine was when I first bought it mine had the beeping from the passive alarm under the right hand wing and some other electrical issues air bag warning light coming on messages on the dashboard from the command centre, headlight dipping and main beam changing on its own. I took it to a local Jaguar Specialist but not a main dealer who fixed all the faults the airbag was due to the electrical terminals on the clock spring inside the steering wheel not making a good connection terminals were cleaned and re connected, dipping headlights due to faulty switch on stalk lights / indicators / other stuff got a second hand switch £40.00 fitted same time as steering wheel air bag connections fixed. . The passive alarm and other electrical bugs due to faulty wiring loom where water can enter underneath the drivers side headlight as the wiring loom is not very good quality specialist said he has found this problem on many S Types 2004 onwards he said the looms were supplied from somewhere in Eastern Europe and the quality is poor I don't have proof of this only his word. I did not have a whole new loom fitted just uncovered the section under the headlight stripped to expose faulty wires fixed and resealed, while he was under the car he found that the hoses to the heater were both starting to weep at the connectors and replaced both hoses and said they were a disaster waiting to happen my 2005 (05) S Type has only 52,000 miles so if yours is this old or older it might be worth checking your hoses as they can only be seen from underneath and if they split you could be stranded. Happy Motoring Now the car is working 100% and a pleasure to own and drive.

Original grill and Chrome mesh grille which do you think looks best please vote. Picture 1 Picture 2

Wow £4000 that's a lot of money to get mine repaired was about £400 if I were you I would look around for another place to take it there are lots of Jaguar specialists around, plus the main dealers are going to be charging a high hourly rate for the Labour which can soon run up if they cant find where the cause of the faults are I can give you details of where I took mine but it's not so near to Kent. You should be able to find somewhere online nearer to you Good Luck.

Hello There, I had a similar problem to you on my S Type shortly after I bought it 1st the orange airbag light would keep coming on and off when it felt like it. This turned out to be a problem with the connections inside the steering wheel which is connected to the air bag I think it was called a watch spring connector or something like that, they removed the steering wheel cleaned the contacts and now its fine. The other faults such as messages from the dashboard display and passive alarm keep beeping was traced to a fault in the wiring behind the offside headlight somewhere. The Jaguar expert said that some of the wiring looms used were not of a very good quality from Eastern Europe somewhere and water was able to get inside and cause the problems, This could be your problem hope you get it sorted.

I think t will take time to clean the wheels but with a small brush it will not be hard work. Here is an update on the faults I posted earlier about the car after putting through a check up at a Jaguar specialist who connected it to the fault finding computer the airbag fault was due to dirty connections under the steering wheel which had to be removed and cleaned now working okay. The battery backed up alarm sounder fault was traced to a faulty wire behind the front bumper right hand side where water from filling the washer bottle had got into the wiring and caused the battery to discharge and this was setting of the sounder alarm not the main alarm now has been fixed and seems to be okay Also the engineers noticed that both the hoses connecting from the engine to the heater inside the car were weeping antifreeze at the bayonet connectors so they put 2 new hoses on for me while under the car. ( they said could have split at any time) I now hope everything is 100% and can enjoy my new toy

This is the first Jaguar I have owned but everybody that has been driven in has said how nice and smooth the car drives and before this car I had a Jeep Wrangler and anything would feel smooth after that, but in answer to your question no the ride is not harsh at all its silky smooth.

Yes they are 18" Jaguar Turbine alloys with 245/40R18 Tyres another upgrade this model has fitted.

Here are some pictures

Sure I will post some pictures I did try but i got a message the pictures were to high a resolution to upload I think I need to take some in low resolution and then I can post them to the forum